US college a fine fit for Ella

Ella Sowman freely admits it – she’s got the best of two worlds at the moment.

The 19-year-old, two years into a four-year tennis scholarship with Lander University, in South Carolina, USA, was recently back home in Blenheim for a couple of weeks, catching up with friends and family.

The former Marlborough number one says that being able to regularly divide her time between US college life and her Marlborough base is pretty special.

“It’s so cool to have two homes. Although both lives are quite different, I enjoy them equally, it is quite nice to be able to go back and forth and feel comfortable in both places. It is nice seeing my friends here again, but I also miss my friends in the States, and vice versa of course … I’m very fortunate,” added Ella.

While she is loving life at Lander, Ella says there is plenty of hard work involved in the tennis programme, with places in the top team strongly-contested and a demanding schedule to adhere to, including tennis training four hours a day, five days a week, in the “off season”, and strength and conditioning training three times a week.

From January to April the college’s main tennis focus is on the NCAA division two championship. Lander is in the Peach Belt conference, with the team playing other colleges in Florida, South and North Carolina plus Georgia.

The Bearcats women’s team is comprised of 13 players, with six players being selected to play singles, plus six in the doubles pairings. This makes for some earnest competition among the squad, who hail from all parts of the globe. This season Ella has consistently played five in singles, achieving the third most singles wins during her sophomore season, and is part of the second-ranked doubles combo.

After arriving in January 2025, part way through the 2025 “on season”, Ella definitely hopped in at the deep end.

“Usually you have time in the off season to prepare but when I turned up we were straight away into two matches a week, going to other schools, plus six classes a day to go to … it was pretty intense, so it did take me a while to get used to.”

The other major change from her previous tennis experience was the US college focus on team environment rather than individual.

“It is quite different, playing then cheering on your teammates, it is such a big part of college tennis … because we have a bigger squad we have plenty of support from the side of the court, which is a great boost, especially as there is plenty of pressure on you to do well for the team.”

With the majority of her team mates hailing from different countries, Ella, the only Kiwi in the team, said it was easy to fit in, especially with so many others also being a long way from home.

“I didn’t get homesick,” she said, “but I do miss some things about New Zealand, especially the views, the mountains and variety of landscape. You look out in South Carolina and there is just sky and the closest beach is three hours away, so I do miss the scenery back here.”

Last year Ella returned to NZ for three months during the college’s summer break, but this time she has only a two-week window.

She flew to California in late May to work at the Kim Grant Tennis Academy for two months, alongside three Lander team mates. Although predominantly employed in a coaching role, Ella says the job will also be an internship, helping with her course and credits towards her fitness and wellness degree.

As her tennis game rapidly improves in the new environment, so do her organisational and life skills.

“I have to get myself sorted for accommodation, a licence, a social security number, travel, it’s been a big step. There is a huge process around my internship as well, which I have had to do myself. But all that has been a good learning experience and now I feel like I can handle most things that I need to do,” she added.